Abstract The surface texture is an important feature of machine parts for any
kind of contact. The quantification of its properties has been a well-established
area in quality assurance for many decades. With the increasing demand for
precision and interchangeability in the globalised marketplace, the results of
surface analysis must be unambiguous and reliable. This is why the International
Standardization’s Technical Committee on Geometric Product Specification has
updated its standards.
Consequently, instrument manufacturers and calibration laboratories need to
ensure that their analysis software complies with the new ISO standards. An
intercomparison has therefore been carried out to validate surface texture analysis
software.
Over the past two decades, a number of tests have been conducted on
surface texture measurement and analysis methods, including issues of instrument
response, discretisation and quantisation. This article examines the numerical and
computational aspects of analysis algorithms that process data sets of discrete
values of finite floating-point precision as input.
The method of testing texture analysis algorithms utilising software
measurement standards (softgauges) and the specification of the test tasks are
explained. The results of the comparison are presented and discussed.